Capitals overwhelm Thrashers with fast start

Dec 9, 2007 - 4:21 AM

By Rich Dubroff
PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- Defenseman Mike Green scored twice, rookie
Nicklas Backstrom had a tally and two assists and superstar
Alex Ovechkin netted a goal and set up another to lead the
Washington Capitals to a 6-3 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers
on Saturday night.

The Capitals scored two goals in quick succession twice in the
game - once within a minute in the first period and again in a
69-second span during the middle session.

"We played a very strong game," Green said. "Everyone was
playing the system, and that was the biggest difference
tonight."

The six tallies tied the most surrendered by Atlanta this
season, and it came in the teams' first meeting since Bruce
Boudreau became Washington's interim coach on November 22. That
was a day after the Capitals lost, 5-1, to the Thrashers.

Washington improved to 4-3-1 under Boudreau. Atlanta - which
also fired its coach (Bob Hartley) this campaign - fell to
14-8-1 under Don Waddell, who also is the club's general
manager.

Backstrom opened the scoring when Atlanta defenseman Niclas
Havelid turned over the puck 40 feet in front of his own net.
Backstrom picked up the gift and flipped it past goaltender Kari
Lehtonen at 8:12 for his third goal of the season.

Precisely a minute later, Alexander Semin brought the puck from
behind the net and flicked it back to Jeff Schultz. The
defenseman, who was positioned in the faceoff circle to
Lehtonen's left, slapped it past the netminder with Semin
setting a screen for a 2-0 lead.

"To get the first and second goals were very important,"
Backstrom said.

Matt Pettinger's rebound chance off Ovechkin's shot squirted
past a bewildered Lehtonen at 4:16 of the second period to put
the Capitals ahead, 3-0. It was Pettinger's second goal of the
season and first since October 29.

"I'll take any right now," Pettinger said. "I just got it on
net. These are the ones that sort of get you out of that slump.
The was pretty much as ugly as they come."

Todd White scored two goals for Atlanta. His first during a
two-man advantage at 12:31 of the second made it 3-1. His
second came at 7:05 of the third. Ilya Kovalchuk, who leads the
league with 23 goals, assisted on both tallies.

"I wouldn't say this was one of our better efforts," Waddell
said. "When the other team is working harder, sometimes it
makes you feel like you're working less."

Ovechkin's 21st goal of the season, which tied him with
Detroit's Henrik Zetterberg for second in the league, made it
4-1 at 14:06. Ovechkin has eight points -including four tallies
- in his last four games.

Green's fifth of the season at 15:15 in the second gave the
Capitals a 5-1 lead. He made it a five-goal advantage with his
second of the night at 5:29 of the third.

"It was a great way to answer back," Boudreau said. "That's
probably the most impressive thing we did. In the past, from
what I've seen since I've been here, if (the opponents) score,
they drop their heads a little bit. But they went right back at
them and scored."

"There's no secret. You need to get off to a fast start,"
Kolzig said. "Tonight, we took the initiative. We went out and
got the lead. As a result, everybody got a little more
confident, started feeling good about themselves and we got six
goals."

Lehtonen made 21 saves for Atlanta, which had won its previous
two games.

"It was almost like we didn't want it," Thrashers rookie
defenseman Tobias Enstrom said. "We were taking the easy way
out. They won all their battles and we didn't show up tonight."